thats already in my mind because i'm having that problem...

It should be pointed out that it is not the norm to have some sort of weekly beta drop.

Elemental, Stardock's biggest project right now, has been in Beta 1 since last October.  This is the norm in software development.  We have been tracking and looking at the bug reports as people have made them.  We don't have a dedicated person to respond on the forums (unfortunately) for ObjectDock but we will try to be better on this going forward.

We anticipate the ObjectDock 2 beta going well through Summer and into Fall with beta 2 in the Summer and Beta 3 during the fall.

Wow.......

That's quite impressive. I was going to say, there is a feature missing the ObjectDock2 that was in 1.9. And that was the ability to have access to the properties of the shortcut on the dock, i.e. Right clicking on the icon, and having the normal Properties menu. Running Windows 7, a lot of programs need to have "Run as administrator" enabled, and I can't do that easily with ObjectDock2 at the moment sadly.

Otherwise it all looks very nice, and seems stable to me.

There's a host of things that ObjectDock 2 still needs that are present in v1.9 like the one you mention Madine.  There's a lot of moving parts and it seems like there's always fewer people available who can do this kind of work.

One of the most serious challenges to desktop enhancement development these days is the sheer lack of development talent available. You can't just hire software developers to do this kind of specialized work.  And nowadays, all the "tinkerers" are making iPhone/Android gizmos.

One of the real ironies of desktop customization is that its decline (in terms of new stuff) has less to with a decreasing demand but more from a problem of a readily available supply of developers able and willing to work on it.

Jeff Bargmann not only is the primary ObjectDock developer but also the lead on Fences, Impulse, and Impulse::Reactor and that's not counting the Dell and HP projects he leads.

We (Jeff, myself and others at Stardock) always assumed we would just be able to hire more people to do this kind of thing. But you can't write desktop enhancements in .NET. It's all very low level (and I can't believe I'm calling this low level) Win32 stuff.

The same problem exists with DesktopX btw.  It kills me.  

It's not just a Stardock issue of course.  RocketDock hasn't been updated in I don't know how long (v1.3 came out at the start of 2007). Yahoo Widgets (formerly Konfabulator) hasn't been updated in about 3 years.

Thank god for Neil (lead on WindowBlinds and DeskScapes).  But even Neil gets stretched.  We have a next generation WindowFX in development and it's development pace is glacial as well.

Internally we have a half dozen projects that are in various states of completion. 3D virtual desktops. A XAML based DesktopX prototype. Fences itself was a prototype for something like 4 years before it finally went into beta.

Anyway, this is probably way more info than any of you guys were looking for but it gives you a peek inside.  

  Actually this is exactly the information I was looking for.  I am a lot more sympathetic and understand completely now why things are moving slower then you guys would like.  Information is king with me.  Thank you for sharing this with us.  Why it doesn't make me happy from a consumer stand point as an IT Admin I completely understand.

No no, this information is needed IMHO to make us understand and perhaps step back a little. And even more for people that are still used to the information policy Stardock had in former times. Thanks, Brad.

Still I am in fear of the whole Object Desktop suite. What if we come to the point that development goes so slow that everytime a new version comes out it is already dated in terms of Windows versions and Service Packs or the worst case, the development will be dropped  ? Not the main players like WindowBlinds of course, but I personally have seen too many apps of the suite go already that have been my favs on former OSes (RightClick, IconX, EnhancedFileDialog...)

And there are apps of the suite that are not only eye-candy for me but I am used to as they are expanding my productivity like RightClick has been, and ObjectDock and DesktopX are, not to forget the ThinkDesk line with Multiplicity I would be lost without looking at all the machines I use parallel.

Would be really sad if You won't find any developer that is able to work for You. I really guess Stardock is one of the better places to work at and the whole product line still innovative. I have to find a new employment after 20 years now also as the company went bancrupt finally. If I was the right guy I really would go for a chance at Stardock and the USA, but my programming skills don't go THAT far.  Dreaming of course as I know how difficult it is for an american company to hire people from foreign countries.

It seems to me that Stardock is developing a whole OS rather than just a fairly simple program. Its been some good time  since I paid for the beta version without any updates or any sign of the final version. I'm disappointed and I'm starting to feel the they don give a monkey about that.

Thanks for the inside info Brad.  For some of us, this is information that we do indeed care about. 

On another note, for anyone who cares.  OD 1.9 will and does handle the 2.0 feature of True Stretch.  So for you skinners, you can put a nice reflection or gradient on your dock and put this line in the .ini file under the [Info] section: TrueStretch = 1.  It works well.

Right now, the only way I've been able to do it with Steam-launched games is to individually set each icon.  It has worked for me in the past.

Hello,

I buy it today and I have questions:

1)

the beta is restricted to American or English?

nowhere any options to make this version 2 in French.

out in France there are notions of accents on letters example it would be good to test, besides the fact that there is no ONLY English in this world.

2) why "tabbed dock"

when positioned on the right or left of your screen, you can not direct the letters to write words to vertical

or I did not find the option ?

3)  can't find the beta frankly reactive.
you do not use graphics acceleration ( Direct 2D ? )

we stay on this hunger, the only added value compared to RocketDock being "tabbed dock"

Problems: this it the less fluid/reactive

________

a) example for " 2) "

If the tabs wrote like that, some of them would be huge.  Look at the Documents tab on the left of the pic and imagine how big it'd be with vertical.  I like them just fine the way they are.  Plus, vertical text looks goofy, even when the letters are centered.  Wider letters sticking out further than the others.  Goofy.

everything is a choice.

many other software stardock are much more "staple up" by pasting huge skin
skins for ObjectDock are cumbersome without the letters in the cause.
the trick is to choose the font

According to let anyone stop you writing direction as are imposed for the moment.
The idea was that it be imposed, the reasons to move to a 2.x version numbering all that

also the average ratio of letters is Height:3 on Width:2 (for "w" and "m" H:3 on W:4 )

result: 33% ... is not specifically a constraint for many

____

And a word writing to 90° it is easier to read a word written vertically in a font less size ?

I don't think

I'm not sure what you said.  Like I said, it looks goofy vertical.  If OD 2.0 had it as an OPTION, meaning we could do it if we chose, then that woudln't be an issue with me.  Choices are good.

Not goofy at all...would be a neat idea if they could do it...but I kind of doubt it. And "might" take up more space...not sure.

If you want them vertical, dock it to the top of the screen.

How is that going to make the text vertical?

Thanks for the beta  road map update I wonder about it.

I've been debating on which dock app to use and regardless of the features other docks have, I keep coming back to Objectdock because I really respect the Stardock developers. So, despite the fact that it is missing some features that I would like, I am just about to purchase OD plus. Here's the one feature I would love to see in OD 2.0, it's by far my most wanted out of everything:

- Native stacks support (I know I can get a docklet, but I'm sure Stardock devs can implement it in a slicker and more efficient way)

+1

Another criticism that I would do:

there are no function to import / export, which would generate a backup file of all that can put so much time has to be done, by example if we want the same shortcuts and etc. ... (include icons) see on a second computer at a third for example

The answer was it's not.

And if it did, it would look goofy.

Actually I have to agree with others! This information for me is vital! I don't beta often, but most times I have, there is a daily give and take/acknowledgement through forums that 'message is received'.  I'm sorry to hear the hiring issues are as dire as they are right now for you guys.  This adjusts my attitude considerably!  Looking forward to Beta 2 in the future!